Apparatus for forming wire springs and welding contacts to the springs

ABSTRACT

Certain types of wire spring assemblies include a plurality of parallel, spaced wires extending from opposite sides of a block formed of an insulating material. A plurality of the wire spring assemblies are loaded into a rack and the rack is attached to a dispensing mechanism for feeding serially successive wire block assemblies from the rack. Adjacent pairs of the wire springs extending from one side of the block are twisted together and coined. The opposite ends of the wire springs are coined and have contacts welded thereto. Portions of the wire springs extending from both sides of the wire block are formed at offset angles and are thereafter loaded into another rack which is attached to an unloading mechanism so that the completed wire spring assemblies may be transferred to a subsequent assembly station and used in the formation of a switching assembly.

United States Patent Kent [54] APPARATUS FOR FORMING WIRE SPRINGS AND WELDING CONTACTS TO THE SPRINGS [72] inventor: William C. Kent, Gahanna, Ohio [73] Assignee: Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, NY.

[ 22] Filed: Jan. 30, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 7,029

[52] US. Cl. ..29/208 D, 72/419, 74/817 [51] Int. Cl. ..B23p 19/04 [58] Field of Search ..74/8l3, 817, 820, 822, 825, 74/826, 824; 29/200, 208; 72/419 [56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,095,832 7/1963 Evans ..74/824 3,236,l 16 2/1966 l-lafferkamp ..74/820 3,221,901 12/1965 Creamer ..'...74/826 3,572,174 3/1971 Lynn ..74/822 [451 Nov; 21, 1972 Primary Examiner-Robert D. Baldwin Assistant Examiner-R. J. Craig Attorney-W. M. Kain, R. P. Miller and Don P. Bush [57 ABSTRACT Certain types of wire spring assemblies include a plurality of parallel, spaced wires extending from opposite sides of a block formed of an insulating material. A plurality of the wire spring assemblies are loaded into a rack and the rack is attached to a dispensing mechanism for feeding serially successive wire block assemblies from the rack. Adjacent pairs of the wire springs extending from one side of the block are 16 Claims, 50 Drawing Figures all 253 PATENTEDnum m2 SHEET DBUF 19 PATENTEU I973 3.703.029 SHEET USUF 19 PATENTEU W21 I972 3.703.029 sum near 19 \256 FIG. 29 257 PATENTEDNHVZI I912 3.703.029

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1. Apparatus for forming wire-like articles in desired configurations, which comprises: means for applying aligning forces adjacent to ends of adjacent selected wire-like elements to move the ends substantially together in juxtaposed, substantially parallel alignment; means for applying clamping forces to juxtaposed portions of the adjacent selected wire-like elements a fixed distance from the ends of the elements to support the elements against rotation; means for moving the application of the aligning forces away from the aligned ends and along a mutual axis of and adjacent to intermediate portions of the elements; means for applying holding forces about the aligned ends of the adjacent selected elements; means for moving the holding forces applying means about the ends of the elements simultaneously with the moving of the application of the aligning forces away from the ends of the elements so that the ends are maintained substantially in the juxtaposed alignment while the holding forces are being applied to the aligned ends, and so that the intermediate portions of the wire-like elements are maintained in juxtaposition and parallel with the mutual axis by the application of the aligning forces thereto during a subsequent twisting together of the wire-like elements, means for applying torsional forces to the held, aligned ends of the selected plurality of wire-like elements about the mutual axis of the elements a fixed distance from the area of application of the clamping forces about the juxtaposed portions of the wire-like elements for twisting together portions of at least selected ones of a plurality of the wire-like elements to form a wire-like article, and means for controlling all of the means to perform the respective functions so that the wire-like articles are formed in the desired configurations.
 1. Apparatus for forming wire-like articles in desired configurations, which comprises: means for applying aligning forces adjacent to ends of adjacent selected wire-like elements to move the ends substantially together in juxtaposed, substantially parallel alignment; means for applying clamping forces to juxtaposed portions of the adjacent selected wire-like elements a fixed distance from the ends of the elements to support the elements against rotation; means for moving the application of the aligning forces away from the aligned ends and along a mutual axis of and adjacent to intermediate portions of the elements; means for applying holding forces about the aligned ends of the adjacent selected elements; means for moving the holding forces applying means about the ends of the elements simultaneously with the moving of the application of the aligning forces away from the ends of the elements so that the ends are maintained substantially in the juxtaposed alignment while the holding forces are being applied to the aligned ends, and so that the intermediate portions of the wire-like elements are maintained in juxtaposition and parallel with the mutual axis by the application of the aligning forces thereto during a subsequent twisting together of the wire-like elements, means for applying torsional forces to the held, aligned ends of the selected plurality of wire-like elements about the mutual axis of the elements a fixed distance from the area of application of the clamping forces about the juxtaposed portions of the wire-like elements for twisting together portions of at least selected ones of a plurality of the wirelike elements to form a wire-like article, and means for controlling all of the means to perform the respective functions so that the wire-like articles are formed in the desired configurations.
 2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 which further comprises means for forming in a selected configuration a portion of at least one of the wire-like elements.
 3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 which further comprises means for securing at least one contact to a portion of at least one of the wire-like elements.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means for applying torsional forces comprises: means for receiving at least adjacent end portions of the portions of the selected wire-like elements being twisted together, and means for rotating the receiving means so that portions of the elements extending from the receiving means are twisted together.
 5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the means for applying torsional forces includes: a twister being movable axially relative to a position whereat the wire-like elements to be twisted together are to be located for a twisting operation, the twister having at least one rotatable spindle, the spindle having an axial opening sufficiently large to receive portions of at least a pair of the elements in a side-by-side relationship; means for selectively moving relatively the twister in an axial direction with respect to the wire-like elements so that the opening of the spindle can be moved relatively over the portions of the elements, and means for rotating the spindle while the twister maintains a fixed position with the elements so that the elements are twisted together.
 6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein the means for applying clamping forces is maintained at a fixed-distance relationship with the twister and the clamping of the juxtaposed portions of the elements is sufficient to permit relative movement between the articles and the means so that the means can be moved with the twister during relative axial movement between the twister and the elements and maintain the fixed-distance relationship.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 which further comprises: means for feeding a plurality of the wire-like elements into a position adjacent to the means for applying torsional forces; loading means for positioning successive ones of the plurality of elements adjacent to the feeding means, and means for transferring the successive articles from the loading means to the feeding means.
 8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 which further comprises: a carrier; a stand having a gravity-feed track and an indexing-feed track formed therein; means for attaching the wire-like elements to the carrier for transporting the elements to a position whereat the elements are twisted together; means for moving the carrier through the gravity-feed track; means for directing the carrier for movement from the gravity-feed track into the indexing-feed track, and means for indexing the carrier through the indexing-feed track tO selectively position the article at the position whereat the elements are twisted together.
 9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 8 which further comprises: a second gravity-feed track formed in the stand, and means for directing the carrier into the second gravity-feed track to move the carrier to a position whereat other wire-like elements can be attached to the carrier for movement to the position whereat the elements are twisted together.
 10. Apparatus for feeding at least one article to a work station which comprises: a carrier; a stand having a gravity-feed track and an indexing feed track formed therein; means associated with the carrier for attaching an article to the carrier and for supporting the article thereon during the transporting of the article from an article-loading station adjacent to the gravity-feed track to a work station adjacent to the indexing feed track, means located adjacent to the stand for moving the carrier through the gravity-feed track; means located adjacent to the stand for directing the carrier for movement into the indexing-feed track which is adjacent to the work station; and means located adjacent to the stand for indexing the carrier through the indexing feed track to selectively position the article at a work station.
 11. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10 which further comprises: a second gravity-feed track formed in the stand, and means for directing the carrier into the second gravity-feed track to move the carrier to a position whereat another article can be attached to the carrier.
 12. Apparatus for moving articles from a first location to a second location, which comprises: at least one carrier means; a support stand; a first gravity-feed track formed in a first side of the stand at a first location whereat a plurality of articles are loaded onto the carrier means; a second gravity-feed track formed in a second side of the stand; means for transferring the carrier means with the loaded articles from the first gravity-feed track to the second gravity-feed track; an indexing-feed track formed in the second side of the stand adjacent to and communicating with the second gravity-feed track for receiving the carrier means with the loaded articles; and means for indexing the carrier means with the loaded articles through the indexing-feed track so that successive ones of the articles are positioned adjacent to a second location.
 13. The apparatus as set forth in claim 12 which further comprises: means for returning the carrier means to the first gravity-feed track after the articles have been positioned adjacent to the second location, and a third gravity-feed track communicating with the indexing-feed track and adjacent to the returning means for moving the carrier means into a position whereat the returning means can return the carrier means to the first gravity-feed track.
 14. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, which further comprises: means for receiving at least a portion of the elements having portions twisted together to confine the received portion; means for moving the receiving means in a selected direction to form the confined portion of the elements in a desired configurations, and anvil means adjacent to the receiving means and located in a path of movement of at least one extended portion of the elements extending from the confined portion thereof to engage and preclude movement of the extended portion so that the extended portion of the elements is formed in a desired configuration.
 15. The apparatus as set forth in claim 14 wherein the means for receiving comprises: a rotatable bit; a slot formed in at least a portion of the face of one end of the rotatable bit for receiving the portion of the elements; at least a first portion of the length of the slot being at least as wide as the portion of the elements received by the slot to confine the portion oF the element, and the remaining portion of the slot having at least one wall which diverges from the contiguous wall of the first portion of the slot so that, when the bit is rotated, the portion of the elements confined within the first portion of the slot is formed at the angle through which the bit was rotated. 